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Selling Sidelines

October 10, 2018

As booksellers, we all know that books are our bread and butter. We all have a great affection for book product—the smell, the feel, the comfort of having a book in our hands. We live and breathe books. Our customers come to our bricks-and-mortar store looking for that special feeling. But what if we could add some jam to that bread and butter? Seriously, who doesn’t like jam? Adding additional product lines to your overall assortment can significantly add a layer of “jam” to your bottom line!

At Book Outlet, our retail store in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, we have recently added many new non-book items to enhance our customers’ shopping experience. These product lines do not take away from our book product. Quite the opposite! These non-book product lines actually enhance the overall book shopping experience. We carry many different product lines, including greeting cards, toys, mugs, cozy socks, candles, candy, tote bags and many, many more. We do our best to cater to our core book customers and we look for non-book items we know our bookworm customers will love. We have also added smaller/lower priced non-book product, such as chewing gum, hand sanitizer, bookmarks, etc. around our cash line for impulse shopping! This increases the chances for these non-book items to become add-on purchases, which increases basket size, adding to your overall profitability. Last year, our non-book product represented 17% of our total sales in-store! Finding the perfect mix of non-book items along with great cross merchandising ideas are key to making a cohesive shopping experience.

Our team at our St. Catharines store has done a fabulous job in identifying non-book product lines that work well for our clientele. It is imperative that you identify successful product lines for your customers’ interests.

That being said, here are a few of our favorites:

Toy product:

Toys are a natural sideline to most product types. Many people shop either with their children or for their children. One brand we carry is Melissa & Doug. They have amazing products, such as puzzles, games, puppets, pretend play, and many others that will enhance your customers’ experience!

Clothing:

Okay, I know what you may be thinking. How the heck am I going to merchandise clothing in my bookstore? I am talking about scarves, socks, and yes, even T-shirts! We carry Out of Print product, which is perfect for the bookworm in your life who has read everything but would love anything that features their favorite book! From mugs to tote bags, this is excellent non-book merchandise for any bookstore.

Tea and Tea Product:

I don’t know many bookworms who do not enjoy a hot cup of tea while snuggled up reading their favorite book! We currently carry a line of tea product from Tea Forte. From loose-leaf tea to boxed tea, tea cups and tea pots, Tea Forte has it all!

Blankets/Throws:

I am an avid reader. I have blankets and throws throughout my entire house in all my favorite reading places. I have bought many of these items while shopping at my local bookstore (totally guilty!); therefore, I can attest that carrying this non-book product in bookstores works! We currently have a line of blankets and throws from NorthEast Fleece Company that customers have been very receptive to.

Lower priced impulse items (chewing gum, candy, hand sanitizer, wrapping paper, etc.):

We carry a number of different lower-priced product lines in our cash line-up and they sell consistently! These impulse products may not be the reason why a customer came into your store, but they sure do make a difference in the basket size and bottom line.

These are just some of the recent sideline products we have identified for our retail location. Don’t limit your search! There are many companies offering this type of product. Do your research. Get the best margins! Ensuring the non-book product you decide to sell meets your customer base is essential to its success at your store. Don’t know where to start? Ask your key customers what they’d like to see to enhance their shopping experience. Done right, sidelines will add another dimension/texture to your bookstore. They may even bring in a new customer who hasn’t purchased from your store in the past. They also make it possible to do more add-on selling and will keep customers in your store for longer periods of time, enticing them to buy more and ultimately adding revenue to your bottom-line!

Tracy Basnett

Category & Store Operations Director

Book Depot

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Maximize Your Purchasing Power

October 3, 2018

It is hard to believe that we are 10 years removed already from the market crash of 2008 and how much that has shaped our current business practices and how we operate. One of the things I have observed over the years, at least in our industry, is the higher demand on suppliers to deliver value-added services for their products, preferably at no extra cost to the buyer.

Properly defined, purchasing power refers to the “value of a currency expressed in terms of the amount of goods or services that one unit of money can buy.”¹ So, it involves how much currency (money) a consumer has and how that translates into the amount of buying power the individual can exercise—or, simply put, how much you can buy with the money you have.

I would like to take a bit of different spin on this and contend that most buyers have a fairly fixed budget they can spend (for instance, on bargain books), so what is important to them and allows them to maximize the power of their purchase is to get as much for that budget as they possibly can. While your budget will dictate the maximum amount of physical product you can buy, if you are also receiving extra services when you buy that product, it will ultimately save you time and money, increasing the value of that purchase beyond the worth of the product.

More for Budget Dollars

When I relate this to the purchases you make at Book Depot, you are getting books on average between 75 – 90% off the publisher’s SRP. Certainly, for schools, libraries, and other institutional purchasers, this is a huge savings for your organization when buying bargain vs. direct from your front-list distributor. We see how institutional budgets are often being cut and government funding is being pulled, so buying bargain books is a great way to increase the power of your purchase. In doing some research while writing this blog, I came across this article from 1978 that speaks to looking for remaindered and bargain books to stretch your library’s budget dollars!

It is fascinating to see how individuals 40 years ago would go about researching and acquiring bargain books and how far we have come today with an enormous supply of product available to you at the click of your mouse.

Save on Shipping Costs

Another area where Book Depot can help increase the profitability in your purchase is through our consolidated freight options. With fuel costs on the rise and shipping companies continually raising their prices, doing bulk shipments of several orders can be a huge cost savings for you and help you stretch those purchasing dollars. At Book Depot, we offer you the ability to hold orders in our shipping department (for a reasonable amount of time) to bulk up your shipments and send a pallet of product at a better freight rate as opposed to multiple smaller and more costly shipments. And if you are one of those buyers who starts building an order online and has to come back to it several times over a period of a week or two before you feel like it’s large enough to fill a pallet, we would encourage you take advantage of this by making multiple orders over a shorter amount of time that we can consolidate for you. This way, you won’t see all those great titles disappear from you cart because it took you longer than you had hoped to finish your purchase. If you want to read more about consolidated shipping, please read our How to Lower Your Shipping Costs blog, which explains how you can start saving money.

Book Depot Delivering on Service

Some final thoughts on how Book Depot gives you more for you purchasing dollar—we treat each and every order, no matter the size, with the same care and respect that each customer deserves. We take great pride in two key areas that help improve customer satisfaction: an order fill rate of higher than 99% and a damaged book claim rate of less than 0.5%. We also take the time to make sure the books are clean and free of any price stickers that may have been in place from previous retailers. What that means to you is your orders will be accurate and complete, and your books will be undamaged and clean. When you spend your valuable budget with us, you can be assured that you will get what you ordered.

At Book Depot, our vision is to see increased profitability spurring on an evolving but vibrant retail book market. Making you, our customer, more profitable through value-added services and ease of ordering with our website is how we want to help you maximize your purchasing power with Book Depot!

Rick Mechelse

Book Depot

Online Sales Manager

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¹ Investopedia. n.d. Purchasing Power. Accessed September 21, 2018. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/purchasingpower.asp.

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Oddball Authors

September 12, 2018

For centuries, authors have been providing us with great stories of adventure, mystery, romance, comedy, and so much more. If you’ve ever found yourself wondering how they do it, you’re not alone! We were curious too, so we set out to find the quirkiest routines and most superstitious beliefs that have transpired behind the scenes to create some of the greatest pieces of literature in history. But don’t take our word for it; without further ado, here’s our list—we hope you enjoy reading it as much as we did compiling it.

Victor Hugo (1802-1885)

Most known for: Les Misérables

Victor Hugo’s antics while writing The Hunchback of Notre Dame on a very tight schedule is the perfect way to start the list. In order to hit his deadline, Victor put himself on self-imposed house arrest for months, knowing that he would have to start paying fines if he didn’t hit his February 1831 deadline! He locked his clothes away to avoid any temptations to leave and only allowed himself to keep one grey shawl so he would be forced to stay inside and write.¹

James Joyce (1882 – 1941)

Most known for: Ulysses

James Joyce was known for writing while lying on his stomach in bed with a large blue pencil, donning a white coat. Since James was nearly blind, the large writing utensil helped him see what he was writing and the white coat helped reflect more light onto the page. A typewriter would have helped him write easier and faster; however, he straight out refused because he was always seeking the “perfect order of words in the sentence” and wanted to write at his own pace and in his own hand. After what James would have considered a productive day, he would have completed two sentences.²

Edith Sitwell (1887-1964)

Most known for: Still Falls the Rain

British poet Edith Sitwell found inspiration in confined spaces. Before she would start writing for the day, Edith would always clear her mind by laying in an open coffin.³

Agatha Christie (1890-1976)

Most known for: Murder on the Orient Express

Agatha Christie had her own favorite writing place—in the bathtub. When she was renovating her home, Agatha had one request for the architect: “I want a big bath and I need a ledge because I like to eat apples.” For her, it was not about indulging; the bathtub was her prime work space.⁴

Agatha Christie books available here.

Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977)

Most known for: Lolita

Vladimir Nabokov wrote entire novels on index cards. This allowed him to write scenes non-sequentially, as he could then easily rearrange the cards as he wished. Fun fact: his novel Ada was written on more than 2,000 cards.⁵

Nabokov in America: On the Road to Lolita available here.

Thomas Wolfe (1900-1938)

Most known for: Look Homeward, Angel

Thomas Wolfe gave himself a writing quota of ten pages, triple-spaced, every day. Not only did he have a page count to meet, but Thomas would also do this daily writing while leaning over his refrigerator since he was so tall (6’6” to be exact).⁶

Thomas Wolfe’s You Can’t Go Home Again available here.

Eudora Welty (1909-2001)

Most known for: The Optimist’s Daughter

Eudora Welty used to straight-pin her stories together in strips so they could be seen as a whole as she wrote. Welty even mentioned to a friend once that “[w]hen the stories got too long for the room I took them up on the bed or table [and] pinned and that’s when my worst stories were like patchwork quilts, you could almost read them in any direction.”⁷

Anthony Burgess (1917-1993)

Most known for: A Clockwork Orange

Anthony’s tool to fight off writer’s block was a dictionary. When he found himself stuck while writing, he would grab a dictionary and attempt to use every last word on the page he opened. When he would come across the need to describe a dull object, he would use the same strategy by attempting to use every word on the page in the description alone.⁸

Truman Capote (1924-1984)

Most known for: In Cold Blood

While some authors had unique writing habits, Truman Capote brought his superstitions into his writing process. He “wouldn’t begin or end a piece of work on a Friday, would change hotel rooms if the room phone number involved the number 13, and never left more than three cigarette butts in his ashtray.”⁹

Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory available here.

Maya Angelou (1928-2014)

Most known for: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Maya Angelou wouldn’t write from the comfort of her own home but would instead rent a hotel room on a monthly basis. She would routinely start at the crack of dawn right until the early afternoon. Nobody would be allowed to enter during that time unless it was to clear out items in the room to remove distractions. The only items she allowed exceptions for were “a bottle of sherry, a dictionary, Roget’s Thesaurus, yellow pads, an ashtray, and a Bible.”¹⁰

Maya Angelou books available here.

Stephen King (1947-present)

Most known for: The Shining

Stephen King may be known for his horror writings but that does not mean he is impervious to fear. Stephen King suffers from triskaidekaphobia – fear of the number 13. He has said that, “[w]hen I’m writing, I’ll never stop work if the page number is 13 or a multiple of 13; I’ll just keep on typing till I get to a safe number. When I’m reading, I won’t stop on page 94, 193, or 382, since the sums of these numbers add up to 13.”¹¹

The Stephen King Companion available here.

George R.R. Martin (1948-present)

Most know for: A Song of Ice and Fire Series

George R.R. Martin considers himself “a man of the 20th century” because he still writes with a DOS computer that is not connected to the Internet. He uses WordStar 4.0 as his word-processing system and says that this program (released in the late ’70s) “does everything I want a word processing program to do and it doesn’t do anything else. I don’t want any help. I hate some of these modern systems where you type a lowercase letter and it becomes a capital. I don’t want a capital. If I wanted a capital I would have typed a capital.”¹²

George R.R. Martin books available here.

Dan Brown (1964-present)

Most known for: Angels & Demons

Dan Brown concentrates on his writing by putting on a pair of gravity boots and hanging upside down since he believes inversion therapy helps with his writing process. On top of that, he also keeps an hourglass on his desk so that on the hour, every hour, he sets aside his work to do push-ups, sit-ups, and other exercises.¹³

Dan Brown’s Angels & Demons available here.

J.K. Rowling (1965-present)

Most known for: Harry Potter Series

J.K. Rowling refuses to title a piece during the writing process and has said that she will only type up the title page once the book is completely finished.¹⁴

Valerie Stark

Marketing Coordinator

Book Depot

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¹ Joyce, James. 1966. Letters of James Joyce. London: Faber and Faber.

² Johnson, Celia Blue. 2013. Odd Type Writers. New York: TarcherPerigee.

³ Ackerman, Diane. 1990. A Natural History of the Senses. Vintage Books USA.

⁴ Johnson, Celia Blue. 2013. Odd Type Writers. New York: TarcherPerigee.

⁵ Ackerman, Diane. 1990. A Natural History of the Senses. Vintage Books USA.

⁶ Wolfe, Tom. 1991. “Tom Wolfe, The Art of Fiction No. 123.” The Paris Review (118). https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2226/tom-wolfe-the-art-of-fiction-no-123-tom-wolfe.

⁷ Marrs, Suzanne. 2011. What There Is to Say We Have Said: The Correspondence of Eudora Welty and William Maxwell. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

⁸ Illuminati, Chris. 2017. “10 Odd Writing Habits Of Famous Authors.” https://www.oddee.com/list/odd-writing-habits-famous-authors/.

⁹ Inge, M. Thomas. 1987. Truman Capote: Conversations. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.

¹⁰ Angelou, Maya. 1990. “Maya Angelou, The Art of Fiction No. 119.” The Paris Review (116).

¹¹ Rogak, Lisa. 2009. Haunted Heart: The Life and Times of Stephen King. New York: Thomas Dunne Books.

¹² Martin, George R.R. 2014. “Game of Thrones author George RR Martin: ‘Why I still use DOS’.” BBC. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-27407502.

¹³ Henley, Jon. 2013. “How Dan Brown and other authors defeat writer’s block.” The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/shortcuts/2013/may/13/dan-brown-authors-writers-block.

¹⁴ Rowling, J.K. 2015. “The Weird World Of Writer Superstitions.” Writers Relief. http://writersrelief.com/blog/2015/10/writer-superstitions/.

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Book Industry Trends

September 5, 2018

As a bookseller, one of the fun aspects of our job is identifying trends that we notice from within the broad spectrum of accounts Book Depot works with. While some of the trends may be unique to one account’s particular industry or location, others may be considered on a larger scale and are applicable to all the accounts we work with. As sales people, we may not always be right when it comes to our intuitions, though I must confess it’s always fun trying to keep up with the times and knowing what our customers like best!

To name a few examples, we could look at the Who Is/Who Was series that has been a great success within recent years. If you were to look at our sales history for these titles, you would find that they have been popular within libraries, educational retailers/distributors, and children’s book fair industries. Another example is to look at stores that focus on music and pop-culture. Obvious trends you might notice are musicians who are growing in popularity, or perhaps you might see increased sales with books relating to a movie when it is released in theatres.

I’m sure by this point, you get where I am going in regard to trends, but what about the less obvious ones? It can be more difficult to discover trends when you aren’t looking at an overall category, though the insight to be found is all the more intriguing. As a brief synopsis, I’ve compiled some interesting trends that I’ve researched from within the book industry. While these trends may not be accurate to every book retailer, hopefully you’ll find these examples as interesting to read as I did. Furthermore, if there are any trends you’ve noticed in your own stores, we’d love to hear from you by commenting below the article!

Anxiety / Finding Happiness

One of the more interesting reports recently is that sales analysis at Barnes & Noble reported a 26% increase in sales of books that are relating to anxiety.¹ Conversely, books about finding happiness have grown by a substantial 83% within one year. While there’s numerous opinions and reasons as to why this may be happening, it’s a good reflection as to the motivation people have for self-improvement.

Horror Sales at Four-Year High

TV shows such as Stranger Things and movies such as Stephen King’s IT are being credited with helping titles with horror and ghostly subject matter reach a four-year high in the UK.² I’ve found it difficult to find similar data pertaining to Canada or the United States, though my personal observations would align with this. At Book Depot, we’ve been fortunate to regularly receive some of Stephen King’s greatest works; however, as you can imagine, they tend to sell quickly!

Rise of the Independent Bookstore

According to the American Book Association, there was a 35% increase of independent book stores opening between 2009 and 2015.³ This has driven the total number of independent bookstores to an excess of 2,300 in total as noted by the ABA.

Though this news is not necessarily new, I thought this was worth noting as it’s a great indication of the overall health of our industry. Book Depot has welcomed working with independent bookstores from all corners of the globe, and we always find it interesting to see the unique and regional selections they choose to purchase when working with us.

Increased Collaboration Between the Comic & Gaming Industries

While there is no doubting the size of the gaming community, there may be a wave or movement to capitalize on the substantial size of the industry by having more comics-oriented publishers collaborate with gaming developers. Sales of comics and graphic novels totalled an estimated $1 billion revenue in North America in 2017, while data according to SuperData Research puts the total for video gaming in excess of $108 billion.⁴Though some of those developers may already have a published brand, others who do not may seek to close the gap between the value of the comic/graphic novel industry versus that of video games.

Soaring Popularity for Political Books

With the incredible sales driven by James Comey’s A Higher Loyalty (over 600,000 copies sold in its first week) and Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury (over 2,200,000 copies sold so far this year), it should come as no surprise that the adult nonfiction segment has reported an increase of 4% during the first half of 2018.⁵ Books that are political in nature have taken center stage through much of this year and intriguingly enough, this popularity has crossed categories into both the children’s and fiction categories respectively, while titles such as A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo (by John Oliver) and The President in Missing (a collaboration by James Patterson and Bill Clinton) have topped the charts.

As there are more books yet to be released by both Michelle and Barack Obama later this year, all indications are that this trend won’t be slowing down anytime soon.

Poetry in the United Kingdom

Reports from the UK note that there has been an increase of 66% in poetry book sales over the past five years.⁶ According to a survey by Taking Part Survey, 3.1% of the adult population in England wrote their own form of poetry in 2015/2016.

View our poetry book selection here.

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) Making Its Rounds Internationally

General feedback being shared from book fairs such as the Taipei Book Fair and Bologna Book Fair are indicating that there has been a growing trend towards books relating to STEM subjects. From my own observation, I’ve seen numerous accounts taking a focus on this type of title. In particular, this has been evident with titles we have by Miles Kelly, but also with reading series such as the earlier mentioned Who Is series, as well as titles within the Ready to Read, I Can Read, Penguin Young Readers and other reading series that are similar in nature.

Paul Eccles

Book Depot

Sales Representative

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¹ Green, Dennis. 2018. Barnes & Noble says books about anxiety are trending because ‘we may be living in an anxious nation’. August 1. Accessed August 31, 2018. https://www.businessinsider.com/barnes-and-noble-anxiety-book-sales-trending-2018-8.

² Lyons, Izzy. 2018. Horror fiction sales at four-year high after a glut of supernatural series and films. July 14. Accessed August 2018, 2018. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/07/14/horrorfictionsales-four-year-high-glut-supernatural-series-films/.

³ Raffaelli, Ryan, interview by Paddy Hirsch. 2018. Why The Number Of Independent Bookstores Increased During The ‘Retail Apocalypse’ (March 29). Accessed August 31, 2018. https://www.npr.org/2018/03/29/598053563/why-the-number-of-independent-bookstores-increased-during-the-retail-apocalypse.

⁴ Salkowitz, Rob. 2018. Ready Reader One: Game Developers Look Toward Comics. August 10. Accessed August 31, 2018. https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/comics/article/77744-ready-reader-one-game-developers-look-toward-comics.html.

⁵ Milliot, Jim. 2018. Print Unit Sales Rose 2% in First Half of 2018. July 6. Accessed August 31, 2018. https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/financial-reporting/article/77441-print-unit-sales-rose-2-in-first-half-of-2018.html.

⁶ Onwuemezi, Natasha. 2018. Poetry sales are booming, LBF hears. April 13. Accessed August 31, 2018. https://www.thebookseller.com/news/poetry-summit-766826.

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Why It's Important for Your Business to Give Back

Why It Is Important for Your Business to Give Back

August 21, 2018

The “give back” movement has been experiencing a groundswell of support over the last several years and does not see any signs of experiencing a drop-off in the near future, especially with the tumultuous political and social climate we are all experiencing. This philosophy is lived daily at Book Depot in all that we do, whether it is partnering with nonprofits to help them procure books for fundraisers or donating books for literacy drives. We feel this is a core value that permeates our organization from ownership all the way through the entire team. You may certainly be thinking to yourself, “why should I be giving back?” or “I do not have the financial resources to give.” It is a completely understandable reaction. However, we have come up with a list of possible ways to give back in your community that could perhaps jump-start your own initiative.

Book drives

For minimal cost, you can place a box in your store earmarked for your customers to donate their slightly used books. Then either on a regularly scheduled date, or simply as the box fills, you can deliver them to a local school, shelter, or other charity (a coin donation box at the checkout also does the trick).

Your gift of time

Your time is certainly of value. If you and your team can set aside a day—or even an afternoon—to provide meals, do a charity walk, or adopt a section of highway, you will be making a difference. It is also an awesome team bonding experience!

Sales percentages

Set aside a designated day to provide a portion of your proceeds to a local charity. One suggestion would be on “Giving Tuesday.” This year it will occur on November 27 and has become as ingrained in the public conscientiousness as Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It does not have to be a large portion; even 5% would go a long way in making a difference.

Offer your space

Provide a space in your store for a nonprofit to utilize as meeting space. It could be at a traditionally slow time or during off-hours, so it does not negatively impact your operation. Who knows, someone in attendance could buy a book…

Benefits

As people, we give mostly for selfish reasons—because it feels good. It nurtures our souls and gives us a sense of pride that we made a difference in the lives of the less fortunate. As a business, benefits stretch far beyond that and include (but are not limited to):

Ignites your customer base. 85 percent of customers prefer businesses and brands that support a charity they care about, translating to higher traffic and sales revenue in your store.¹
Charitable donations are tax deductible if you are supporting an IRS/CRA approved nonprofit organization.
Increased visibility by free marketing and publicity. Oftentimes charities are exceptional with getting the message out. Whether it is with the local media or on their social media pages, they will promote your organization for the assistance you provided. (Side note: do not forget to reciprocate the favor by promoting them on your own social media channels.)
Employee relations. People love working for organizations that are not just out for themselves or to only turn a profit. Those businesses that care about their town and their neighbors will have a happier team and be more attractive to prospective employees in the future.
Strengthens your market reach. A more literate community means a larger customer base. An example of this would be how providing books for schools ignite a child’s love of reading, turning them into readers who are looking to expand their own book collection.
Create customer loyalty. 90 percent of customers say they would be more loyal to a brand that gives to a local cause that resonates with them.²

Get started

Lastly, you may be thinking, “where would I even start”? There are thousands of deserving charities and nonprofits that could easily resonate and are well-deserving. We suggest three starting points. First, start locally. No better place to make a difference than in your own backyard. Second, start small and build upon your success step-by-step. You will look back in a few years and be amazed at what you were able to do in a relatively short amount of time. Lastly, we suggest you “take a backseat” on this one. It is certainly easier said than done when we are used to leading every aspect of our businesses, but on this topic, let your team decide democratically who will be the benefactor of your resources. Your group experience will have a much higher chance of success if everyone buys into the philosophy of giving back.

Good luck and please let us know how your group made a difference. We would love to celebrate your successes on our social channels!

Greg Sizelove

Business Development Director

Book Depot

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¹ Heitzman, Adam. 2016. Why Giving Back Should Be Part of Your Marketing Strategy. May 10. Accessed August 8, 2018. https://www.inc.com/adam-heitzman/why-giving-back-should-be-part-of-your-marketing-strategy.html.

² Tabaka, Marla. 2015. Why It’s Crucial for Your Company to Give Back. January 26. Accessed August 8, 2018. https://www.inc.com/marla-tabaka/7-reasons-to-become-a-philanthropist-now.html.

Photo courtesy of Bernie’s Book Bank.

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Getting Involved in Your Community

August 15, 2018

As a stand-alone store, it can be hard to shine in the community the same way a well-known corporate chain store does. In our case, we have to be a great deal more creative when it comes to forming a customer following and making a mark in the community, especially in areas that are growing so rapidly in business and culture. When the odds are against you and your brick-and-mortar store and it seems like other businesses are advancing without you, here are some tips for staying involved and keeping your community interested:

Step Outside of Your Comfort Zone

A fantastic way to get involved in your community is to open your arms and welcome people in by hosting a creative and exciting event. It may be something completely new to you, possibly an intimidating idea, but event coordination is an excellent way to reach out. Trying something new and hosting an event (of any kind) makes your location known to those who may have never heard of you, and it offers an ideal destination for family activities. Creating environments in which customers are encouraged to participate, have fun, and get to know your employees will inevitably lead to good reviews and good relationships. People will associate your location with happy memories and subsequently will want to share those good vibes with friends and family. We often get lost in the cold, hard side of business and forget that the most important factor is the community you form with your customers (because where would we be without them?). The warm and genuine human relationships are what make it possible to build a friendly and loyal base of customers, and hosting fun events is an excellent way to initiate these kinds of bonds and stay active in the community.

Band Together

Another way to remain current in the community is to get to know your fellow comrades in business and join forces to create an even larger web of customers. Rather than pitting yourself against the small business down the road, why not offer a friendly hello, get to know their story, and work together to bring business through both doors? In our growing society of online shopping, brick-and-mortar stores need to link arms and march bravely into the future by sharing their knowledge and offering a helping hand to a fellow neighbor. Putting your heads together to create joint marketing ventures (such as offering discounts if customers shop at both locations) is an excellent way to get involved and also to show your customers you are dedicated to the growth of the community.

Lend a Helping Hand

Perhaps one of the most essential ways to get involved in your community is to reach out in whatever way you can to those in need. A charitable donation can go a very long way with regard to relationships formed and the reputation of your business. It is important to be kind but cautious when choosing who/where to donate to. Obviously you can’t donate to everyone, but sometimes a small discount or a literal helping hand with a project can go much farther than anything of monetary value. Donating your time and your efforts can be just as worthy to someone as free product or a big cheque, and it also lends itself easier to that warm and genuine human connection that will help your business succeed in the long run.

Ultimately, it is your human nature that will aid you and your business in getting involved in the community around you. There is a lot of give and take in business, and the more you dedicate to your customers, neighbors, and those in need, the more you will receive back in spades in the form of customers, marketing, recommendations, and lasting relationships. So be loud, proud, and stand out in the crowd! Your success, as well as that of your brick-and-mortar store and your community of followers, is worth the effort!

Samara Bissonnette

Book Outlet

Retail Store Manager

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Book Depot Turns Up the Volume!

August 9, 2018

Book Depot has some exciting news to share which will be very impactful to all our customers! Over the past year, we have seen a constant rise in inbound product and opportunities continue to present themselves for acquiring even more product. In order to keep up with the increased volume of product that is arriving at our warehouse daily, Book Depot has made the momentous decision to keep the lights on a bit longer and add a second full shift to our operation. The second shift started late in the spring of 2018 and has added 40-plus full-time jobs to our warehouse staff!

The Facts

So why is this exciting news for all of our customers? Please let me explain and provide you with some data. The second shift currently has one main purpose, and that is to work through our inbound books and get them into our inventory faster. Our sort machine is now running 16 hours per day and we have staff working to put the books onto our shelves for the same amount of time so that you have an even larger selection of books to purchase from.

Here are some interesting numbers that will help to substantiate this increase in volume.

In the first three months of 2018, Book Depot was adding an average of 269,000 books per week into inventory. That number of books represented 9,331 unique titles, of which 2,800 were titles that had no existing stock (either a sold-out title that we had reacquired stock on or a completely brand-new title that we had never carried previously). Those are already impressive numbers, but wait for the latest stats!

In the past eight weeks since we have implemented our second shift, we are now adding on average 411,000 books per week into inventory, which represents 12,580 unique titles, and of those individual titles, 4,080 are titles with no existing stock. That represents:

a 50% increase to our receiving capacity
a 35% increase in the number of titles added
a 45% increase to titles added that we have no existing inventory

So, what does all of this mean to you, our customers? There are actually a few areas that this increased volume will positively impact you.

Increased Purchasing Opportunities

A couple of years ago I wrote a blog entitled, Here Today and Gone Tomorrow. For all of you who are veteran bargain and remainder book buyers, you will understand this statement completely. The nature of our business is opportunity buying. Great titles become available at great prices and, as a buyer, you need to take advantage of those opportunities to help create the best assortment of bargain books that you can find. With the increase in our available product from our second shift, this will create even more of these great purchasing opportunities based on the additional number of titles we are adding on a daily basis.

Decreased Wait Times

For those of you who shop our New Arrivals often, you can see the pattern of the same publishers being sorted over and over again, almost by routine. The reason for this is because we have relationships with the publishers to take in their overstocks on a continual basis, so we might be getting a truckload from them every week or two. With the increase in our sort capacity, that will mean we will be able to get to these sorts sooner, which in turn means a shorter wait time before we sort your favorite or preferred publishers again.

More Books to Go Around

Another benefit we see from this increase in volume is that those desirable titles that sell out so quickly should either get restocked faster (if we get them again) and/or the quantity of those “hot” titles rise so more customers can “share the wealth.”

I hope you can see why Book Depot is excited for you, our customers, and the added opportunities that our second shift is creating for you. More product means more choices and better selection, which should also benefit your customers and/or institution. We continue to stand firmly behind our mission statement, which is that we want to save you time and money by offering the largest selection of high-margin books. This new change allows us to continue to improve upon that promise.

Rick Mechelse

Online Sales Manager

Book Depot

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Webinar: Maximizing the Book Depot Website

June 27, 2018

Throughout the years, we have been refining our website to make our customers’ buying experience as easy and efficient as possible. If you are new to our website and want to learn about all the features it has to offer, watch the video below. If you are a returning visitor, discover how you can get the most out of our site by leveraging its features to their full potential.

Website features covered (in order of reference):

If you prefer to read about the features on Book Depot, we invite you to read this article.

What would you like to see?

Do you have any suggestions or features that you would like to see built into our website to make your buying experience even better? Do you have any positive or negative feedback that you would like to share regarding our current site? Place your suggestions in the comments below.

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What’s Hot, What’s Not at Book Depot

June 14, 2018

Bookstore owner: “For this buyers’ job, we need someone who is responsible.”
Applicant: “I’m the one you want. In my last job, every time there was a problem, they said I was responsible.”

Sound like someone you know? Have you ever been the “responsible” buyer for some duds? I’m quite sure we’ve all had our share of purchases that never materialized into profitable sales. Let’s admit it—it can be difficult to select all winners when we have a store or chain of stores to keep fully stocked with great titles that appeal to our customer base. This blog will hopefully help you a bit in discovering what’s hot and what’s not in the world of bargain books.

As one of North America’s largest purchasers of bargain books, Book Depot gets a huge selection of titles arriving every day. As a point of interest, we are now sorting 400 pallets of bargain books per week! Some of the product that finds its way into our inventory is like pure gold and sells out quickly. At the other end of the spectrum are books that have lost their relevance and salability. These will be quickly separated (often at the point of initial sortation) and recycled into various paper-based products. In between, where the bulk of our inventory falls, are good to great titles that you as a buyer need to sift through and decide what may or may not sell in your store(s).

Based on the last six months of sales at Book Depot and interviews with several of our seasoned sales reps, we have the following information you may find helpful:

What’s Hot:

Kids’ titles that have a STEM component (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics)
Kids’ titles with a different format like sound books, lift-the-flap, and box sets
Fiction continues to sell very well, and in some cases, trade paper outsells hardcover due to the lower price point and less bulky format
Political books relating to recent events and certain individuals – any guesses on this one?
Inspirational and self-help titles, especially when linked to a well-known individual or celebrity
Brick-and-mortar stores do well with kids’ storybooks and board books that don’t necessarily need to be written by a big-name author, but instead, have a nice quality about them. Here is where the touch and feel experience makes all the difference
Adult colouring books, but a lower price point is key to successful sales
Cookbooks that are written by celebrities and/or deal with vegan and gluten-free content

What’s Not So Hot:

Generic cookbooks, especially those without rich, colourful content
Computer and Internet
Education
Sports and Recreation
Low-end paperback romance

In summary, content that is freely available on the internet tends not to sell well in printed form. Maybe it goes without saying, but high-quality content that is relevant (or timeless), priced well, entertaining, and worth sharing is going to find a customer and enrich their lives.

With over 50,000 current titles in stock, we have a huge selection of great books. Below is a special list of 35 top-selling titles at Book Depot, recommended by our sales staff, for your buying consideration:

ISBN	Title	Category	List Price (USD)	Our Price (USD)
9780062651754	Pharaoh (A Novel of Ancient Egypt)	Fiction	$19.99	$2.25
9781250045478	Victoria	Fiction	$16.99	$3.50
9780425280126	Island of Glass (Guardians Trilogy, Bk. 3)	Fiction	$17.00	$2.50
9780765377043	Children of the Fleet (Fleet School, Bk. 1)	Fiction	$25.99	$3.75
9781501124389	Everyone Brave is Forgiven	Fiction	$16.00	$2.25
9780684822761	In Our Time	Fiction	$14.00	$3.50
9781250075857	Mind Game (Eve Duncan)	Fiction	$27.99	$4.50
9781250119889	You Are Here: An Owner’s Manual for Dangerous Minds	Humor	$15.99	$2.50
9780062568892	Victoria: The Heart and Mind of a Young Queen	History & Geography	$29.99	$5.00
9781250080431	Pogue’s Basics: Life	House & Home	$19.99	$3.25
9781250087256	Obsessed! (Hungry Girl, Clean & Hungry)	Cooking, Food & Wine	$21.99	$4.50
9781250127761	The How Not to Die Cookbook	Cooking, Food & Wine	$29.99	$6.50
9780894803123	Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book	Cooking, Food & Wine	$10.95	$2.50
9780062409706	Nevertheless: A Memoir	Biography & Autobiography	$28.99	$3.25
9780312553685	I’d Know You Anywhere, My Love	Children Fiction	$17.99	$3.00
9780448437477	The Night Before First Grade	Children Fiction	$3.99	$1.00
9780451534040	The Crayons’ Book of Colors	Children Fiction	$8.99	$2.25
9781848698611	My Book of Animal Babies	Children Fiction	$8.95	$2.00
9781848698567	One Rainy Day	Children Fiction	$8.95	$2.00
9781474821483	Snowflakes and Sparkles Coloring Book with Crayons (Disney Frozen)	Children Fiction	$4.99	$1.00
9781474821490	Hopes and Heroes Coloring Book with Crayons (Disney Pixar)	Children Fiction	$4.99	$1.00
9781474821681	Dare to Dream Paint Palette Book (Disney Pixar)	Children Fiction	$7.99	$2.00
9781481492201	Daniel Tiger’s 5-Minute Stories (Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood)	Children Fiction	$12.99	$2.75
9780689832130	Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type	Children Fiction	$17.99	$3.00
9780374300210	If Animals Kissed Good Night	Children Fiction	$7.99	$2.00
9781680520606	A New Toy Truck (Touch & Feel Busy Workshop)	Children Fiction	$12.99	$3.25
9781680520743	Brave Little Camper	Children Fiction	$12.99	$3.25
9781680520095	First Words Lift-a-Flap Book (Babies Love)	Children Fiction	$7.99	$2.00
9780544454361	Let’s Cook! (Sesame Street)	Children Nonfiction	$17.99	$1.50
9780312522827	First 100 Numbers	Children Nonfiction	$5.99	$1.50
9781250151070	Way of the Warrior Kid	Tweens Fiction	$13.99	$2.50
9780375870644	The Fourteenth Goldfish	Tweens Fiction	$16.99	$3.00
9781484789728	Disney Beauty and the Beast (Art of Coloring)	Crafts & Hobbies	$15.99	$2.00
9780892969982	The Power of I Am: Two Words That Will Change Your Life Today	Religion & Spirituality	$14.99	$3.75
9781455517275	The Mind Connection	Religion & Spirituality	$24.00	$3.75

Bill Van Vliet
CIO
Book Depot

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Success Story: Salt Lake County Library Services

May 30, 2018

Background

Salt Lake County Library Services is the largest public library system in Utah. They began operations some 79 years ago in 1939 out of two classrooms in the old Midvale School, UT. Today, they offer books, music, magazines – all in a variety of formats – and much, much more.

Salt Lake County Library Services currently runs a highly successful Summer Reading Program from its 18 branches that services approximately 60,000 participants across the county. The program features specially designed reading records to encourage the whole family to keep track of their reading progress throughout the summer. With the program offered to three different age groups for over two months, they need a reliable supplier they can count on to provide the huge breadth of high-interest titles they require for this program with a one-stop shopping experience.

Solution

With the largest selection of titles in the industry from nearly all major North American publishers, Book Depot is able to provide them with the extensive variety of titles in all age ranges they require to run a successful Summer Reading Program year after year. Book Depot offers a user-friendly website that gives clients a real-time view of its inventory and sales representatives to help facilitate easy order placement.

Results

5-10% increase in Summer Reading Program participants each year.

Salt Lake County Library Services chose Book Depot as their preferred supplier because Book Depot allows them to fulfill all their various needs (children’s books, tween, adult, nonfiction, and board books) from just one vendor.

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